UNC-Chapel Hill, spring 2008

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 584

Introduction to the Qur'an as Literature

Home | Information | Schedule | Requirements | Links
 


Schedule
Notes:
Deadlines and important dates are in red
* = Instructor out of town

1. Jan. 10    Introduction and Background

reading: 

[for those with no previous background, read Carl W. Ernst, Following Muhammad, esp. chapter 3, "The Sacred Sources of Islam" ]
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 96, 74, 111, 108, 107, 102, 105, 92, 94, 93, 97, 80, 68, 95, 103, 73, 101, 99, 53, 84 (all are very short!) [First Meccan period]
Robinson, pp. 1-24
Cook, pp. 3-7
Ernst, "Reading Strategies for Introducing the Qur'an As Literature in an American Public University."

Journal: ways that different people approach the Qur'an

*2.  Jan. 17   
Visit to Rare Book Room, Wilson Library (2:00-3:30 pm; then return to 3033 GEC)

reading: Notes

in this order, read Qur'an, suras 100, 88, 89, 83, 51, 52, 56, 55, 112, 109, 113, 114, 1, 54 [First Meccan period]
Watt, pp. 17-39

Journal: rewrite one short sura in rhyming English verse (after listening to an audio version from the links page, and after comparing two different translations)

2.  Jan. 24  Interpretation  (spiritual). Guest: Ms. Cemalnur Sargut (Turkey)

reading:
Sura 36 [Second Meccan period; the subject of our guest's remarks]
Ernst, Teachings of Sufism, chapter 1, password no. 1 required
Ernst, Guide to Sufism, chapter 2, password no. 1 required
Recommended:
"Sufism and the Qur'an," in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 5:137-158 (Alexander Knysh)

Recent Controversies:
Wall Street Journal Article "the Lost Archive"
 Reply to the Wall St. Journal article "The Lost Archive", by Corpus Coranicum project director Michael Marx
Anti-Koran film in the Netherlands

3. Jan. 31   Chronology of the text: different hypotheses

reading: 
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 50, 20, 26, 15, 19 [Second Meccan period]
Watt, pp. 108-120
Robinson, pp. 25-46, 60-96
Journal: rewrite one more short sura in rhyming English verse (after listening to an audio version, and after comparing two different translations). Find out where this texts stands in chronological order according to both Egyptian and European systems (see Robinson, as well as the chronology charts on the Links page). Consider the verses that the European system marks as Medinan insertions into Meccan suras (73:20; 74:31); what reasons might there be for supposing these as later additions?

4.  Feb. 7  Collection of the text

reading: Notes
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 23, 21, 25 [Second Meccan period]
Watt, pp. 40-56
Cook, 119-126
"Collection of the Qur’an," in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 1:351-361 (John Burton)


 *5.  Feb. 14   Style

reading: 
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 17, 18 [Second Meccan period], 32, 30, 11 [Third Meccan period]
Watt, pp. 57-85
Robinson, pp. 99-124

6.  Feb. 21  Interpretation  (general)

reading:
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 14, 12, 40 [Third Meccan period]
Also read The Sura of the Cave (Qur. 18), trans. W. N. Crest (you will need userid and password no. 1)
    See "Questions to Consider" in the prefatory remarks to this reading, for suggested study questions on "You"     verses and "Say" verses
Watt, pp. 167-172
Cook, pp. 28-41, 95-108
Recommended:
Exegesis of the Qur'an: Classical and Medieval, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 2:99-124 (Claude Gilliot)
Exegesis of the Qur'an: Modern and Contemporary, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 2: 124-142 (Rotraud Weilandt)

7.  Feb. 28   Ritual use of the Qur'an

reading:

in this order, read Qur'an, suras 29, 31, 42, 34, 35 [Third Meccan period]
"Everyday Life, Qur'an in," in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 2:80-98 (Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd)
"Ritual and the Qur'an," in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 4:484-408 (Joseph W. Meri)
turn the pages of the Sultan Baybars Qur'an from the British Library

Mar. 8. Midterm Essay due, 5 pm, in Saunders 125 mailbox

*8.  Mar. 6     Qur'an as Oral Recitation

reading:

in this order, read Qur'an, suras 46, 6 [Third Meccan period]
Orality, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 3:584-587 (William A. Graham)
Orality and Writing in Arabia, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 3:587-593 (Alan Jones)
Recitation of the Qur'an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 4:367-385 (Anna Gade)

9.  Mar. 20    Qur'an as Written Text  

reading:
in this order, read Qur'an, sura 2 [Madinan period]
Form and Structure of the Qur'an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 2:248-266 (Angelika Neuwirth) notes
Literacy, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 3:188-192 (Sebastian Günther)
Literary Structures in the Qur'an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 3:192-205 (Issa Boullata)
Recommended:
Language and Style of the Qur'an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 3:109-135 (Claude Gilliot and Pierre Larcher)
Rhetoric and the Qur'an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 4:461-476 (Angelika Neuwirth)

10.  Mar. 27   Dynamic aspects of Qur'anic style.

reading:
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 47, 61, 57, 4 [Madinan period]
Robinson, pp. 224-55

11.  Apr. 3    Orientalist and Postmodern interpretation

reading:
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 63, 24, 58, 22 [Madinan period]
Contemporary Critical Practices and the Qur’an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, M. Arkoun (412-430) notes
Post-Enlightenment Academic Study of the Qur'an, in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, 4:187-209 (Marco Schöller) notes

12.  Apr. 10   Research Presentations

10 minute presentations with summaries of research papers: send title and bibliography to instructor by Apr. 4, plus any outline or power point you want to show (those are optional); summaries should included title of paper, a statement of the question, sources used, and significance of the topic. Leave yourself time for some questions and suggestions from your colleagues!

13.  Apr. 17  Fundamentalist insistence on violence (both Islamic and anti-Islamic)

reading:
in this order, read Qur'an, suras 9, 5 [Madinan period]
Rosalind Gwynne, “Usamah bin Ladin, the Qur'an and Jihad”
Richard Martin, "Discourses on Jihad in the Postmodern Era"

web sites:

Jihad Watch including this comment about UNC (scroll down to comment number seven)
 The Sword of Militant Islam
Jack Chick cartoon conversion tract, "Allah Had no Son"


13.  Apr. 24  Conclusions on how to read the Qur'an
       reading:
Journal entry: 3 things you now know about the Qur'an, that you didn't know before taking this course.

Final research papers due as printouts delivered to instructor's mailbox in 125 Saunders, Tues., April 29, 4:00 P.M.